Paper short abstract:

In this talk, I reflect on the ways in which DNA surprises may generate thorny kinship troubles in a country like China where filial piety (xiào) and the securing of male lineages have long shaped family life.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, direct to consumer genetic testing oriented towards persons who might be curious about their ancestry or interested in their genetic health status have generated a host of 'unintended effects'. Police detectives have begun solving decades' old 'cold cases', family secrets (regarding use of a donor or extra-marital affair) have been revealed as so-called "DNA surprises", just as cases of fertility fraud have come to light exposing fertility doctors who deceitfully used their own sperm in the treatment of infertility decades ago. In this talk, I will reflect on the ways in which DNA surprises may generate thorny kinship troubles in a country like China where filial piety (xiào) and the securing of male lineages have long shaped family life. As one online response to an online recruitment add for sperm donors in Hunan province wondered: “What will you do if a group of children come to find you twenty years later?”